Cameron Houston

WHAT happens in Vegas is supposed to stay in Vegas, unless a prominent Sydney underworld figure posts images of himself with several Melbourne footballers on social media site Facebook.

Controversial boxing promoter Fidel Tukel has close links with the Sydney chapters of the Comancheros and Rebels motorcycle gangs. He now appears to be linked to the Melbourne Football Club, after spending time in Las Vegas with players Colin Sylvia, Luke Tapscott and Brent Moloney, who was recently traded to the Brisbane Lions.

The group struck up a friendship at the Hard Rock Hotel's famous pool-side party Rehab last month, as the AFL investigated serious allegations that their club deliberately ''tanked'' games in 2009 to secure favourable draft picks.

Image from Tukel's Facebook page.

The images are expected to be of particular concern for Sylvia, whose colourful career has been punctuated by poor judgment and alcohol-fuelled incidents.

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The 27-year-old was fined $5000 and suspended from the opening game of last season, after crashing his BMW in Southbank last year and fleeing the scene. Sylvia was also axed from the international rules squad for drinking the night before training and had to complete an alcohol program.

Yesterday, a club spokesman defended the players and said they had nothing to do with Tukel after leaving the Nevada party capital.

Image from Tukel's Facebook page.

''While in Las Vegas, they attended a pool party. An Australian man recognised their Australian accents and introduced himself. They spoke briefly and were asked for a photograph. They had no further association with the person in the photograph,'' the spokesman said.

Mr Tukel posted the following on Facebook after meeting the players: ''Me and Melbourne Demons boys Colin Sylvia, Brent Moloney, and Luke Tapscott at Rehab…..Vegas Baby……Go the Dees!!!''

Mr Tukel was part of an investigation by The Age and ABC's Four Corners in 2010, which revealed that police intelligence gathered by multiple law enforcement agencies had been leaked to the Comancheros.

Mr Tukel, who uses the name King Fiddy on Facebook, also has photographs from a Sydney wedding on November 5, when a member of the Comancheros was shot dead and two others wounded. Mr Tukel removed his Facebook page for several days last week, as police investigated the shootings, which are believed to be part of an internal feud within the gang.

Fidel and his brother Hakan Tukel are well known in boxing circles, having a long involvement in the Blacktown Hit Squad gym.

Five years ago, Collingwood star Alan Didak spent a night drinking with Hells Angel Christopher Hudson, who days later went on a shooting spree in Melbourne, which killed one man and wounded two others.